The most fundamental characteristic of a
crime is that it is a punishable

offense against society. Consequently, when
a crime occurs, society, acting through such employees as the police and
prosecutors, attempts to identify, arrest, prosecute, and punish the criminal. But
it is societies acting through their governments that make the rules declaring
what acts are illegal. Hence, war is not a crime. Although it is the most
violent of human activities, it has not been declared illegal by governments or
their agencies. But petty theft the stealing of a loaf of bread is a crime
because the laws of most states and nations have said so.

Before anyone can be convicted of a crime,
three elements usually must be proved at the trial. They are: 1) a duty to do
or not to do a certain thing; 2) a violation of the duty; 3) criminal intent.

Duty. The duty to do or not to do a certain
thing usually is described by statutes which prohibit certain conduct. Generally
only conduct that is serious

– involving violence or theft of property –
is classified as an offense against society and therefore criminal.

Violation of the duty. The breach of the
duty must also be proved in a criminal trial. This is the specific conduct by
the defendant, which violates the duty. For example, battery is always a crime
often defined as “the intentional causing of corporal harm”. A breach of this
duty could be established in a trial by the testimony of a witness who swore
that they saw the defendant deliberately punch the victim.

Criminal intent. This element must be
proved in most cases. Criminal intent generally mens that the defendant
intended to commit the act and intended to

do evil.

A few crimes do not require criminal
intent. These are generally less serious crimes, for which a jail sentence is
very unlikely. Traffic offenses fallwithin this classification. You may not
have intended to speed or have intended evil but you have still committed this
crime.

Ignorance or mistake is generally no excuse
for violating a law. A person is presumed to know what the law is. To have
criminal intent, one must have sufficient mental capacity at the time one
commits a crime to know the difference between right and wrong and to be
capable of deciding what to do. Accordingly, insane persons are not held liable
for their criminal acts.

B3. Answer the questions:

1. What are characteristics of a
crime?

2. What is a criminal conduct?

3. What are the three elements of a
crime?

4. What is the criminal intent?

5. Why aren’t insane people held
liable for their criminal acts?

C. VOCABULARY EXTENTION

C1. Fill empty slots in the table with the
terms from the list to match their Russian language equivalents.

C2. Phraseology. Here are six idioms which
are linked to the topic of crime. These idioms are not necessarily about crime;
they just use the language of crime to describe other situations. Find out what
they mean, how you can use them and then do the quiz. Think of their Russian
parallels.

A steal

“A steal” is anything that is much cheaper
to buy than you would expect. The

item is a real bargain and great value for
money. It is so cheap, that is almost like we have stolen it!

'I only paid 20 dollars for this dress and
it's a designer brand. It was a real steal!'

Highway robbery

“Highway robbery” (also known as “daylight
robbery”) means that you feel something is much more expensive than it should
be. You feel you are paying

way too much.

'The soft drinks in the cinema are really
expensive. I paid 10 dollars for a cola. It's highway robbery!'

Thick as thieves

When people are “thick as thieves” they
have a very close relationship.

They're probably best friends who are
always together and never keep secrets from each other.

'Lee and Mike have been as thick as thieves
since they met in junior school. They do everything together.'

On the case

When someone is “on the case” they are
doing what needs to be done in a

particular situation. They are dealing with
the task or problem.

'Don't worry about it. I'll have the report
done by Friday. I'm on the case.'

Get away with murder

When someone “gets away with murder” they
are not punished for bad

behavior. They did something bad or wrong
and did not get into trouble for it.

'She never does her homework and she's
always late for class. Our teacher lets her get away with murder! He never
punishes her.'

Partner in crime

A “partner in crime” is a person who helps
you to make a secret plan to do

something wrong or dishonest. They help you
to do something bad or naughty.

'Tom made sure nobody was looking as I set
off the fire-alarm in our school.

He was my partner in crime.'

C3. Complete the sentences using one of the
idioms above.

1. How much?
There's no way I'm going to pay so much. That's .

2. Paul
helped me to break open the door. He was my .

3. He's a badly behaved boy, but
his parents never do anything. They let

him .

4. James
said that he would get the tickets. He said he was .

5. Because
I'm so generous, I'll let you have it for half price. That's you.

6. You never see Emma without
Jenny. Those two are as .

D. WORD FORMATION

for

D1. Use the words in brackets to form a
word that fits in the space.

Police

Most societies have organizations called
police forces to maintain order,

investigate
lawbreaking, and 1

(apprehension) criminals. Police forces

are part of the criminal justice
system, which also includes the courts, prosecuting and defense attorneys,
and prisons.

The words police and
politics are 2

(relation). Both are derived from

the
Greek term for city-state and have to do with the 3 oversight of communities of
people. Police operations 4

(administer) and

(variety) from

nation to nation. In some states police
forces are highly militarized and nearly

5

The 6

(distinguish) from the armed forces.

(organize) of police forces varies
around the world. Many

countries have 7

(centre), or national, police
organizations. Among

them are France, Italy, Norway,
Sweden, Finland, Portugal, China, and Turkey. In some nations there may be
different forces for different purposes. Italy, for example, has three national
forces. The State Police are responsible

for most normal
police duties, including 8

(maintain) of public order,

criminal 9

(detective), and highway patrol. The Corps
of Carabineers

(Carabinieri) is an arm of the military. It
is charged with keeping public

order, riot
control, border patrol, and antiterrorist 10

(active). The

Treasury Guard enforces tax laws and works
to prevent smuggling. Apart from these national forces, most cities and towns
have municipal police in charge of traffic control and the enforcement of local
laws.

E. DISCUSSION

E1. Work in groups. Read the story below.
In the story there are six characters.

i) Individually rank the characters from
1 to 6 with 1 being the most

and 6 the least responsible in the order of
their moral responsibility for Jean’s death.

j) Work with other members of your
group and decide of the ranking of the six characters as a group. You must
reach a unanimous decision.

k) In the same groups determine if the
party you found morally responsible for Jean’s death could also be found
legally responsible from неру aspect of criminal law. Are
the common elements of crime present?

Jean’s Death

Around 5 pm one evening, a man and his wife
entered the Bluebird Bar. The

man, Jack, ordered a whiskey for himself
and a cola for his wife, Gail. Jack continued to order the same drinks about
every ½ hour.

At 11 pm the bar owner refused to serve
Jack any more drinks because he was obviously extremely intoxicated and
bothering other customers. Gail was used to Jack’s behaviour and never asked
her husband to quit drinking.

“Are you driving him home or should I call
a taxi?” yhe bar owner asked Gail. Jack shouted,”Get out of my face! I’m
driving home and neither of you can stop me!” Jack then shoved the owner aside
and walked out the door. The owner just shrugged his shoulders and walked off.
Gail went to the pay phone in the corner to call her sister for a ride.

As Jack left the bar a man walking by the
bar shouted to him, “Hey Buddy, call a taxi!” When Jack drove off, the man
simply shook his head and walked down the street.

Meanwhile, Jean and Carl were having a
lovers’ quarrel on the next corner. The quarrel soon escalated into a major
fight, and Carl struck Jean, saying, “Don’t ever tell me not to touch you
again. I’ll show you who’s boss here.” At that point, Jean, crying hysterically
and paying no attention to all the traffic, ran into the street directly in
front of Jack’s car. Jack was not able to stop in time, and Jean was killed
instantly.

F. WRITING

F1. In pairs find
the synonyms to the entries taken from the text (in the box). Write two/three
sentences using them.

If it is against criminal law, it is a
crime. It is societies acting through their governments that make the rules
declaring what acts are illegal.